Conventional high-heeled shoes are often uncomfortable and painful to wear while standing and walking. The position of the foot in the high-heeled shoe imposes a high load on the forefoot. High-heeled shoes also require an unnatural walking style. This often leads to various types of injuries.
Injuries resulting from wearing high-heeled shoes may include Morton's syndrome where a shortened first metatarsal results in excessive force on the metatarsal head of the second metatarsal; metatarsalgia where the metatarsals become irritated and inflamed due to an uneven weight distribution across the foot when it hits the road; Hallux valgus where the big toe points toward the second toe, resulting in a protrusion at the metatarsal phalangeal joint of the first metatarsal; a stress fracture which is a small crack in a bone, or a severe bruising within a bone, typically caused by overuse and repetitive activity; and sesamoiditis where the sesamoids break or the tendons surrounding the sesamoids become irritated or inflamed.
US 2010/0251568 A1 discloses a footwear insert to reduce pain or discomfort for a user of shoes where the heel is raised higher than that of the natural foot angle. The footwear insert comprises a metatarsal portion configured to transfer a brace force to a metatarsal edge of a foot to reduce a tendency of the foot to move toward a front portion of the footwear.